Hand Puppet Associated With A Book

ABSTRACT

A device for telling stories comprising a book, a container coupled to the book, a puppet coupled the book via a string, wherein the puppet can be stored in the container. The string can be made any known material such as yarn, cable, rope, cloth or any other material formed in an shape to couple the puppet to the book. The container can be located in the spine of the or in the form of a pouch located on an inside face of a front or back cover of the book.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

The invention relates to a hand puppet that is attached to a book. Othertype designs are known the art. For example, the following U.S. patentsrelate generally to the art: U.S. patent Nos: to Stephens, U.S. Pat. No.2,756,448 to E. A. Werbe, U.S. Pat. No. 1,4051,345 to C. R. Hoyme, U.S.Pat. No. 3,789,546 to U.S. Pat. No. 4,233,772 to Hamar, U.S. Pat. No.4,608,024 to Skolnik, U.S. Pat. No. 5,472,364 to Castleman, U.S. Pat.No. 5,746,637 to U.S. Pat. No. 5,833,509 to Hunt, U.S. Pat. No.6,494,759 to Polick, wherein all of these patents are hereby in byreference.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

The invention relates to a device for telling stories comprising a book,a container coupled to the a puppet coupled to the book via a stringwherein the puppet can be stored in the container. string can be madefrom any known material such as yarn, a cable, rope, cloth or any otherformed in an elongated manner to couple the puppet to the book.

The book has a front cover, a back cover, and a spine coupling the frontcover to the back cover. container can be disposed in the spine of thebook between the front cover and the back For example, the container canbe substantially cylindrically shaped in this style In anotherembodiment, the container can be in the form of a pouch coupled toeither side of the front or the back cover. In one embodiment, thecontainer can be coupled to an inside of the container. In addition, inone form or embodiment, the book can also contain the and the pouchwherein the container is disposed within the spine of the book and theis coupled to an inside face of the front cover.

The device can further comprise a fastener coupled to the book. Thisfastener can be coupled to side of the front or the back cover. In oneembodiment, the fastener is coupled to an inside of the front cover.This fastener can be in the form of a hook and loop fastener but couldbe in the form of a hook, a clip, a button, or any other known fasteningmeans.

To control the removal of the puppet from the container, there can be aspindle disposed within container wherein the string, cord or othermeans is coupled to the spindle. This spindle is loaded and isrotationally driven within the inside of the container so that it canuncoil to a user to remove the puppet from the container and coil up toretract the puppet back into container.

This puppet can be in the form of a hand puppet containing at least twoseparate finger puppets. These at least two separate finger puppets cancomprise characters from a story wherein this story to a story in abook. The device can also comprise at least one additional puppet in theof an additional puppet or an additional finger puppet and the devicecan also comprise at one additional string for coupling the hand puppetto the book.

Essentially in use, using at least one of the above embodiments, a storyteller can open the book, remove the puppet from the container. Theuser/story teller can insert his or her fingers into finger slots andstart the reading of the book. The user can then user the differentcharacters the finger puppets to help convey the story. For example, ifthe present book contained a directed towards “The Three Little Pigs”the character for the “Big Bad Wolf” could be on of the fingers or onthe thumb, and the three different characters for the three differentpigs each be on any one of the remaining fingers. The thumb or each oneof the remaining could be moved separately to help the user/storytellerto convey the story.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparentfrom the following description considered in connection with theaccompanying drawings which disclose at one embodiment of the presentinvention. It should be understood however, that the is designed for thepurpose of illustration only and not as a definition of the limits ofthe In the drawings wherein similar reference characters denote similarelements throughout the views:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the first embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the device; and

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to the drawings, FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a firstembodiment of the device In this view, there is a book 20 which has astage 30 coupled to the book. Stage 30 is to a top of both a front cover22 and a back cover 24 of book 20.

The stage is in the form of a stage having a bottom section 34, at leastone side section 36 and a section 32. Side section 36 can comprise twolegs that couple top section 32 to bottom 34. In addition both topsection 32 and bottom section 34 can have creases 31 and 39 disposed ina center region along a spine 25 of the book.

There is a rope, string, cord or other similar type flexible andpossibly elastic extension member coupled to book 20 which joins puppet50 with book 20. In this case, cord 40 can be in the of a small string,a rubber band or other elastic type material, or a thin nylon band. Cord40 be coupled to book 20 in a region adjacent to or inside of acompartment 60. Compartment is disposed along spine 25 of book 20 suchthat it forms an open recess to receive a flexible which is essentiallya glove comprising multiple finger puppets. This glove type can becollapsed into a substantially small space to be stored inside ofcompartment 60. compartment 60 is sized to be sufficient to receive acollapsed glove puppet 50. In there is a spindle 80 disposed inside ofcompartment 60. Spindle 80 is formed so that it have an optional springloading so that it can selectively retract cord 40 when tugged. In thispuppet 50 would retract inside of compartment 60 and then be storedinside. Spindle 80 can set so that it can allow a puppet to pulled outof a top region or a bottom region of book 20. In present view, thepuppet is being pulled out of the bottom region of book 20 however, thiscan be reversed so that spindle 80 directs cord 40 out of the top ofbook 20 and adjacent to 30.

Puppet 50 can be used in combination with stage 30 wherein cord 40 islong enough to allow the puppets to appear on stage while the user isreading the story associated with the book. In case, the puppetsassociated with this glove containing multiple finger puppets include a52, and three little pigs 54, 56, and 58. However, other characters maybe used for the and the story. In this case, the glove/finger puppet 50has characters associated with the story which is written in theassociated book 20.

FIG. 2 discloses a perspective view of another embodiment of theinvention. In this case, puppet is disposed inside of a compartment 70which is in the form of a pouch 70 which is coupled to inside face of afront cover 22. Pouch 70 is formed to be of sufficient size to receivepuppet In this embodiment, there is no stage associated with book 20. Inaddition this view could be associated with the first embodiment whereinthe stage is folded down in on an inside of back flap 24. Essentiallystage 30 can be permanently coupled to back flap 24 but only coupled tofront flap 22 so that it is only coupled to front flap 22 when it isopened up out from an inside region of back flap 24. Stage 30 would thenunfold to show its expanded as shown in FIG. 1 wherein side section 36which is disposed adjacent to front cover 22 is selectively coupled tofront cover 22.

FIG. 3 shows another embodiment of the invention wherein there is showna smaller sized stage unfolds from an inside face of back cover 24. Thissmaller stage 33 includes top section 32, curtains 38 as disclosedabove. This device shows that cord 40 extends out from a bottom frombook 20 but this spindle 80 could be reversed so that cord 40 extendsout of a top of book 20.

FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of the invention wherein this embodimentalso does not a stage. In this embodiment there is a fastener 90 whichmay be any type of fastener such a snap coupling, a hook and loopfastener, a hook, a temporary adhesive, a magnet or any other meansknown in the art. In this case, fastener 90 is used to secure puppet 50to an face of front cover 22. Alternatively and not shown, fastener 90can be coupled to an inside face of back cover 24.

Accordingly, while at least one embodiment of the present invention hasbeen shown, and it is understood that many changes and modifications maybe made thereunto without from the spirit and scope of the invention asdefined by the claims. In particular, the are not to be interpreted aslimited by any of the drawings or description written above.

1. A device for telling stories comprising: a) a book; b) a containercoupled to said book; c) at least one glove; d) a plurality of puppetscoupled to and formed integral with said at least one glove wherein saidat least one glove is coupled to said book wherein said glove can bestored in said container and wherein said puppets are in the form of atleast one finger puppet; and e) a line, wherein said at least one gloveis coupled to said book via said line.
 2. The device as in claim 1,wherein said line is in the form of a string wherein said at least oneglove is coupled to said book via said string.
 3. The device as in claim1, wherein said line is in the form of a cable.
 4. The device as inclaim 1, wherein said line is in the form of a cord, wherein said gloveis coupled to said book via said cord.
 5. The device as in claim 1,wherein said line is in the form of a flexible elastic element, whereinsaid glove is coupled to said book via said flexible elastic element. 6.The device as in claim 1, wherein said book has a front cover, a backcover and a spine coupling said front cover and said back covertogether, and wherein said container is disposed in said spine of saidbook.
 7. The device as in claim 1, wherein said container issubstantially cylindrically shaped.
 8. The device as in claim 6, whereinsaid front cover has an outside face and an inside face, said containeris in the form of a pouch coupled to said inside face of said frontcover, wherein said at least one glove can be stored inside of saidpouch.
 9. The device as in claim 1, wherein said front cover has anoutside face and an inside face, and the device further comprises afastener coupled to the inside face of said cover.
 10. The device as inclaim 9, wherein said fastener is in the form of a hook and loopfastener.
 11. The device as in claim 1, further comprising a spindledisposed within said container, wherein said line is coupled to saidspindle.
 12. The device as in claim 11, wherein said spindle isrotatable within said container and wherein the device further comprisesa spring coupled to said spindle for spring loading said spindle in saidcontainer.
 13. The device as in claim 1, wherein said plurality ofpuppets is in the form of a glove containing at least two fingerpuppets.
 14. The device as in claim 13, wherein said at least twoseparate finger puppets comprise characters from a story wherein saidstorey relates to a story in said book.
 15. The device as in claim 1,further comprising at least one additional puppet and at least oneadditional line which is used to couple said at least one puppet to saidbook.
 16. The device as in claim 15, further comprising an extension inthe form of a stage coupled to said book.
 17. The device as in claim 16,wherein said stage comprises a bottom section, at least one side sectionand a top section.
 18. The device as in claim 17, wherein said stagefurther comprises a plurality of curtains with at least one curtainwhich is coupled to at least one of said at least one side section ofsaid stage.
 19. The device as in claim 16, wherein said book furthercomprises a font cover and a back cover wherein said stage is coupled tosaid front cover, and said back cover of said book.
 20. The device as inclaim 16, wherein said book further comprises a front cover and a backcover and wherein said stage is coupled to said back cover of said book.21. The device as in claim 17, wherein said bottom section and said topsection of said stage have a fold, so that said stage can be foldedover.